STATE PAPERS. 



245 



pared by its enemies for the de- 

 struction of our most lioly religion : 

 whence it b'c-comes an episcopal 

 duty, that you first of all expose 

 the wickedness of this nefarious 

 scheme, as you already are doing 

 so ailmirably, to the view of tiie 

 faithful, and openly publish the 

 same, according to the rules pre- 

 scribed by the church, with all 

 that erudition and \sisiiom in 

 which you excel ; namely, " That 

 bibles printed by hereticks are 

 numbered among other prohibited 

 books by the Rules of tlie index 

 (No. II. and 111); for it is evi- 

 dent from experience, that the 

 holy Scriptures, when circulated 

 in the vulgar tongue, have, through 

 the temerity of men, produced 

 more harm than benefit ;" (Rule 

 IV.) And this is the more to be 

 dreaded in times so depraved, when 

 our holy religion is assailed from 

 every quarter with great cunning 

 and effort, and the most grievous 

 wounds aie inflicted on the chui'ch. 

 It is, theiefore, necessary to ad- 

 here to the salutary decree of the 

 Congregation of the Index (June 

 13th, 1757), that no versions of 

 the Bible in the vulgar tongue be 

 peruiitt?d, except such as aie ap- 

 proved by the Apostolic See, or 

 published with annotations ex- 

 tracted from the writings of the 

 Holy Fathers of the Church. 



We confidently hope that, even 

 in these turbulent ciinimstances, 

 the Poles will afford the clearest 

 proofs of their attachment to the 

 religion of their ance>tors ; and 

 this especially by your care, as 

 well as that of the other prelates 

 of this kingfiom, whom, on ac- 

 coimt of the stand they are so 

 ■wonderfully making for the faith 

 committed to them, we congratu- 



late in the Lord, trusting that 

 they all will very abundantly jus- 

 tify the opinion v.-hich we have 

 entertained of them. 



It is moreover necessary that 

 y(m sliould tiansmit to us, as soon 

 as possible, the liible which Jacob 

 W'uiek published in the Polish 

 language with a commentary, as 

 well as a copy of the edition of it 

 lately put forth without tii^se an- 

 notations, taken fioni the writings 

 of the holy fatliers of our church, 

 or other learned Catholicks, with 

 your ojiinion upon it ; that thus, 

 from collating them together, it 

 may be asceitained, aft* r mature 

 investigation, what eri'ors ma) lie 

 insidiously concealed therein, and 

 that we may pronounce our judg- 

 ment on thi>i affair for the preser- 

 vation of the true faith. 



Proceed, ther.'fore, venerable 

 brotlier, to pursue the truly pious 

 course upon which you ha\e en- 

 tered ; viz. diligently to light the 

 battles of the Lord in soundness 

 of doctrine, and warn the pt-ople 

 intrusted to your care, that they 

 fall not into the snares which 

 are prepared for them to their 

 everlasting ruin. The chuich 

 waits for this from you, as well 

 as from tne other bishops, whom 

 our rescript equally concerns ; and 

 we most anxiously expect it, that 

 the deep sorrow we feci on ac- 

 count of this new species of taies 

 which an enemy is sowing so 

 abundantly, may, by this cheer- 

 ing hope, be somewhat alleviated: 

 and, we l.eartily invoke upcm you 

 and your fellow bishops, for the 

 good of the Lord's flock, e\er in- 

 cretLsing gifts by our Apostolic 

 benediction, wiilch we impart to 

 yourgelf and to thim. 



Pi US PP. VIL 



TVZUG 



